


The Red Lantern

by TouchingOldMagic



Series: Ghostbusters 30 Day Challenge [14]
Category: Ghostbusters (Comics), Ghostbusters - All Media Types
Genre: Bust Fic, Gen, lady ghostbusters saving the day, ray did it again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TouchingOldMagic/pseuds/TouchingOldMagic
Summary: Day 14 of the Ghostbusters 30 Day ChallengePrompt: Make Up a GhostOn a bust Winston and Ray run into trouble, and Kylie's research abilities are needed.
Series: Ghostbusters 30 Day Challenge [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779643
Kudos: 4





	The Red Lantern

When the phone on the counter rang, Kylie lifted it from its cradle without taking her eyes from the book she was reading. "Ray's Occult Books," she said automatically.

"Kylie! Need you to look up something, quick. _Ack!_ "

Kylie blinked. She recognized the voice, though she didn't think he had ever called the store before. "Mr. Zeddemore?"

"Winston's fine." Muffled thumping. A rattling noise and a grunt. "Ray and I are out in Queens. We got a request to look at someone's private art collection and things got . . . complicated."

Kylie closed her book. "What happened to the boss?" she sighed. Ray was the one who usually carried the cellphone on jobs.

"He's a little indisposed," Winston said flatly. "Some scaly horse thing came out of a Japanese lantern and sang something, he's been out of it ever since. Didn't have any effect on me, though."

The young bookstore manager rubbed her forehead. "If it was anyone else, I'd say he does it on purpose," she muttered, mostly to herself. "Is he okay?"

"He's Ray," was the response, in a way that Kylie assumed was supposed to be reassuring. "Bit of a zombie thing going on right now. The ghost went outside--it really didn't like the lantern once it got out of it--and he tried to follow. I've got the both of us locked in the room with the collection and he hasn't really figured out how to open the door yet."

"Probably not a good idea to let him out there," said Kylie.

"Yeah, I guessed that one," Winston snorted. "We got some mood slime out in Ecto, but I can't get out there and keep an eye on him at the same time. I dunno if it would even help anyway, he seems more hypnotized than possessed."

"Okay, what's the lantern look like?"

Every time something like this happened, Kylie swore she would take Ray to task for keeping an old corded phone at the front of the shop. (It was for ambiance, he insisted.) A cordless would make searching the stacks a hell of a lot easier. At least the cord was long, so she didn't have to tell Winston to wait as she turned around and walked to one of the shelves behind the counter.

"It's a red paper lantern, like maybe two feet long. It's got some sort of symbol painted on the front. A rectangle with a line going through the middle, and like two hash marks inside the rectangle, one above and one below the line? I dunno, man, I don't read Japanese."

"Mmhmm. And the ghost?" Kylie asked.

"Looked sorta like a green horse, but covered in scales instead of fur. Big fangs. Maybe dripping with water or something?"

Thanks to eidetic memory, Kylie didn't need to write down the details Winston was describing. Nor did she need to scan the shelves to try to remember where the particular book she was looking for had been stored. With the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder, she pulled down the reference book on cursed Asian artifacts she wanted, then hastily grabbed the two books next to it on the shelf for good measure.

"Got it," she told Winston quickly, setting the three books down on the counter. She hesitated, then asked, "He'll be okay for a bit, right?" She took her cue from Winston's tone of voice. He sounded serious but not overly worried.

"He's fine for now, but he keeps trying to get outside. I'm pretty sure she's still waiting out there, but I dunno how long she'll wait before she tries coming back in for us." He made a frustrated grunt. "Worst case, I can knock him out if I have to, but I'd really rather not," he finished grimly.

Kylie swallowed. "Right, I'll call back as soon as I have something." She didn't waste another moment with a farewell, just dropped the handset back on the cradle and opened the first book.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger ending! I will continue this later, I have ideas for this ghost~


End file.
